Abu Hussein al-Qurashi, the suspected leader of the so-called Islamic State (IS) group, was killed in Syria, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Sunday.

"This individual was neutralized as part of an operation by the Turkish national intelligence organization (MIT) in Syria yesterday," Erdogan said in an interview, adding that al-Qurashi had been pursued by intelligence services for a "long time."

"We will continue our struggle with terrorist organizations without any discrimination," Erdogan stressed.

The operation took place in Jindires, a town in the northwest region of Afrin, where Turkish intelligence and security forces targeted an abandoned farm being used as an Islamic school, the AFP news agency reported.

IS had appointed al-Qurashi as its leader in November 2022 after the previous leader, Abu Hasan al-Hashimi al-Qurashi, was killed in an operation in southern Syria.

The rise and fall of the caliphate

In 2014, IS — under its then leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi — seized control of large areas of Iraq and Syria, proclaiming an Islamic caliphate.

However, the group was eventually pushed out of this territory following campaigns by US-backed forces in Iraq and Syria, as well as Syrian forces supported by Russia, Iran and various militias.

Baghdadi was killed in a US operation in 2019.

Despite having lost much of its territory, IS still carries out attacks in Syria and elsewhere.

On April 16, suspected members of the group killed at least 41 people in Syria.

The US-led coalition, along with the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a Kurdish-led alliance, is still conducting operations against the group in Syria, who are still holed up in remote regions.

ss/sri (AFP, Reuters)